Hanoi moves to tackle widening trade deficit

Hanoi's trade deficit in the first five months stood at nearly 7 billion USD, compared with the national average of 2.7 billion USD (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The capital city of Hanoi has carried out trade promotion plans targeting
both traditional and new foreign markets in order to tackle its widening trade
deficit, which exceeded the national average in the first five months of this
year.

Statistics show
that during the January-May period, Hanoi’s export turnover reached 4.73
billion USD, up 12.2 percent over the same period last year, mainly driven by
local enterprises.

Meanwhile, its
import value stood at 11.67 billion USD, resulting in a trade deficit of nearly
7 billion USD, compared with the national average of 2.7 billion USD. More than
half of the figure was contributed by Hanoi-based centrally-run businesses.

The city’s major
imports include equipment, machines and materials for projects or production
chain installation. In many cases, import items were declared by firms based in
Hanoi but transported to other localities.

To reduce the
trade deficit, Hanoi will cut exports of raw materials and increase exports of high
value-added products while developing the supporting industry to join the global
value chain.

Trade promotion
will focus on handicrafts, agricultural products and garments-textiles.

Meanwhile, the
city will create favourable conditions for foreign importers and support local
businesses in international integration through workshops that provide them
with information about markets, preferential policies and benefits generated by
Vietnam’s free trade agreements, said Nguyen Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the
municipal Department of Industry and Trade.

Hanoi is also
working on several large and modern logistics centres to serve exporters.